Angry in the Great White North

From the news wire:

TORONTO, Dec. 8 /CNW/ - There is no truth to the serious accusations that CARP had inside information about Minister Ralph Goodale's announcement regarding Income Trusts. In fact, the political crossfire regarding who knew what, when and how about the Minister's announcement has created the false allegation that there was a leak to CARP.

The record must be set straight! At no time was CARP given an indication by the Minister's office of when the announcement would be made or what it would say.

There was communication between CARP and Mr. Goodale's office beginning in September when the issue of Income Trusts was first raised and thousands of seniors began contacting the Association in panic. Phone calls closer to the announcement involved CARP's urging the Minister to end the uncertainty regarding the Income Trust issue - especially before the expected end of Parliament.

CARP was told that because of the upcoming election, it was important to have certainty in the market and so an announcement could be coming soon. Although CARP had no idea of what the announcement would be, or exactly when it would come, it was good news that something was being done.

This absurd accusation seems to have started with Warren Kinsella who, for some reason, "mused" on his website that "a seniors organization had been actually briefed by Ministerial aides on what was coming before it did". He later cited CARP as the organization. CARP challenges Mr. Kinsella to back up this irresponsible claim!

CARP is Canada's Association for the Fifty-Plus. A non-profit, non- partisan organization, CARP has 400,000 members across the country. Its mandate is to promote and protect the rights and quality of life for older Canadians. Its mission is to develop practical recommendations for the issues raised, as was done in the case of Income Trusts.

Uh-oh, they're calling Warren Kinsella a liar. The fools!

Curiously, CARP is telling people to call Gleberzon for confirmation, which would require him to deny the CTV story, which would put CTV in the position of standing by their story!

For further information: Interviews/Information: Judy Cutler, Bill Gleberzon, Directors, Government & Media Relations, (416) 363-8748 ext. 241, carp@50plus.com, www.carp.ca

Now CARP lays the blame on Warren Kinsella. They challenge him to back up his "irresponsible" claim.

What claim? I challenge CARP to find the claim in the first place!

As best as I can tell, Warren Kinsella never names CARP, nor even vaguely identifies it as a "seniors" organization:

The story below, which topped CTV's newscast last night, is very important and has Bay Street on pins and needles. On the night that Goodale hurriedly made his volte-face on income trusts, I heard about an organization that had been actually briefed by ministerial aides on what was coming before it did. There were news stories like this, before the market had even closed. And I recall being astonished by how many laudatory, pro-Liberal press releases were on Canada Newswire within minutes of his statement. [emphasis added]

None of those press releases came out before the markets closed, but I'd be willing to bet a big income trust dividend that they weren't typed up and sent out within seconds of Goodale's flip-flop, either. And boy oh boy, a lot of people sure made a lot of money in the early part of that week, didn't they?

Far be it for me to pre-judge an OSC or RCMP investigation, but I'd be very interested in eyeballing one Parliamentary Secretary's - and one ministerial office's - phone and email records for the 72 hours preceding that announcement. I'd also be interested in the investment portfolio of two prosperous Toronto-based Liberals close to the Martin regime.

Never on his blog, either in the December 7 posting I quoted above, nor in any subsequent post, does the phrase "senior's organization" appear. And certainly not "CARP" or the full name of the organization.

On December 8, he links to the CTV piece that names CARP and Gleberzon, just like the rest of us.

He does, however, give us this interesting bit of news:

As is well-known in the Liberal Party of Canada, a recent campaign for Laurier Club donations went precisely nowhere (cf. the big Laurier Club event with the Prime Minister on November 10 at the Arcadian Court was supposed to see 1000 new members attend and raise $1 million - and it, um, did not ).

What is less known, however, is this: was there a surge in Bay Streeter donations to the LPC in the immediate aftermath of the income trust leak and volte face? Were some investors who benefited from the tax change then immediately hit up by LPC canvassers, perchance?

Just wondering. I'm certain there's nothing to see here, move along, etc. etc.

So according to his sources, Liberal grassroots fund raising is flat. Like me, he wonders if people who profited from the leak are sharing some of those profits with the Liberal Party. But that's all it is -- just a thought.

Even here he does not name any particular organization as a potential donor, and particularly not CARP.

If CARP has a problem, they should take it up with CTV news. As far as I can tell, Warren Kinsella is no farther ahead on this story than any of the rest of us. And if he is, he certainly did not fling any accusations around.

CARP had better issue another press release clearing up their sloppy quoting of Warren Kinsella's blog. In this case, I think Warren has a fair target for a lawsuit.